Invasion of Kosovo: Updates From the Kosovo Front

So it feels like forever since I have written a post, but it's only been a few days. This weekend was a couple of firsts, my first Couch Surfer and my first time to Gadime Cave. One was a little more exciting than the other. The cave was cool and all, but there was not much to it. It's still being explored, and since tourism is not very developed it makes it difficult to have a good solid program. But hey, it's a marble cave and that's cool in itself.
Here is a quick glance at the entry way to the caves. More will follow.

Well I finally located Sir Bill Clinton and took a friendly photograph with him. He is of course located on Bill Klinton Blvd.

The Caves were pretty simple, although my camera was about dead so the flash was not working. I improvised by using my iPhone as a torch (when in Europe, talk like a European) that helped with someone of the pictures. So about 3 minutes after we get into the Caves, the generator goes out. Now power outages are pretty common place in the Republic, so I didn't really think much of it. Except that of course, I am underground in a cave. Well this kinda changes the atmosphere of the place, really helps to get a sense of being blind. So I ended up taking a good amount of these pictures with the only light being my iPhone. They turned out okay, in my humble opinion. So we are wandering around (my Surfer and I) in the dark, getting away from the group, and this goes on for about 10 minutes or so before the leaders decide to have us head back to the outside world. Woo that was bright! So as we wind our way back outside, the generator kicks back on. So it goes.
They, of course, take us back down into the caves and start making up things about what the rocks look like. It's a favored past time for Gadime Experts to swap stories on what lie the Brother's (Cave Guides) went with this time. It's nothing malicious, but it is definitely funny to hear whatever they come up!

The "Peace Sign" that was broken by some Serb tourist around the time of the war....

Here are some shots of the town surrounding Gadime. It's just a narrow slit inside the middle of two hills. There is a local store, a local kebab shop, and a bus stop. That's about all you are going to get.

The local Mosque. I'll tell you what, they have absolutely zero hints of protest here. It's a very moderate version of Islam, plus pretty secular. It's nice though, cause I have learned a bunch of things about Islam and seen some pretty buildings. Churches, no matter the faith, are usually great pieces of art. And contain great art! It's art within art. (Cue Inception Music)

This is my favorite picture that I have take so far (Left). All taken with a FujiFilm XP. It somewhat captures how serene the area was.

The "Touist" Complex. A restaurant and ticket booth. Around the back of the restaurant is the cave entrance.

Some Prishtina pictures. That's one of the main mosques in town, as well as my CouchSurfer (Right) and someone we met on CS that lives in Prishtina. (Left) Olivier (my CS-er) is a French national who has spent the last 2.5 years traveling through Asia. He has his Master's Degree in Communication Engineering, but quit and decided to see the world. He had like 200k miles saved up so traveled that way for about a year, then decided to hitchhike. He's hitched through some remote places, like Afghanistan and Iran. When we met, he had hitched 38,500km with a goal of 40,075km! (Can anyone guess what that number signifies? ) He was leaving Prishtina heading back towards Paris, so he'll make it with little doubt. He was definitely an interesting guy,
but it made me realize that after 2.5 years of traveling, you get fatigued to the point of not being able to enjoy it anymore. Some thing I never want to deal with ever!

A close up of the main Mosque in Prishtina. And then the clock tower, it's an old Kullah. Which is an old Turkish style home. It's a tower, and basically the family lived over the livestock or guards, so in case of attack they could just pull the later and let the marauders roam on by. They are all over the Balkans, but this one has been turned into a clock!

Cake! This was prepared by the local artisans at the store "Felini". Or rather it is a local pâtisserie. It's a chocolate mousse cake. Can I get a "Hell yes, please"?

Here is a good shot of a few of us at Gege. (Which is the name of the dialect of Kosova and northern Albania) The bald guy (George, Belgian) and the guy 2nd from the left (Hubert, Polish) couch surfed with me for the last 2 nights. They met randomly on CouchSurfing when the Bald guy was looking for someone to go with him on a road trip around Eastern Europe. They were very social, and through them I met Bekim (2nd from the right, Kosovar) and Crystal (first from the left, British) who live here in Pristina. The two people in between me and Hubert are two Polish CSers of Bekim and Crystal. Then Griet (Belgian and first girl from the right), I met her through Olivier. She is about to finish her internship in Prishtina and head back to Belgium.